


Those Damn Doors

by ArcticAardvark



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Bisexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Spencer Reid, Bisexuality, Coming Out, Conversations, Late Night Conversations, Lesbian Emily Prentiss, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, emily is wlw in mention this fic is reid centric, i write spencer as confident and happy and you cant stop me because i cant read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcticAardvark/pseuds/ArcticAardvark
Summary: Working a case in Las Vegas the team runs into a peculiar friend from Spencer's past, learning a few things about his personal life.
Relationships: Derek Morgan & Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid/Original Character(s), Spencer Reid/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 195





	Those Damn Doors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sadspencer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadspencer/gifts).



> Wrote this instead of the fic I actually need to be working on, hope you guys enjoy. A gift to sadspencer, you inspired me! Like you said, CBS robbed us of what could've been quality LGBT representation, so it's up to us fan fiction fan fiction writers to steal it back one fic at a time. Mostly bi Spencer, but wlw Emily made it in too because I can’t control myself.

"I love Vegas," Morgan announced to no one in particular, jumping off the last few steps of the jet and onto scalding cement.

"Can't say I share that particular sentiment," Rossi sighed, sluggishly dragging himself out of the air conditioned cabin and after his team. "It's too hot. Why is it that people even choose to live in a desert in the 21st century?"

"Well, actually contrary to popular belief a desert climate can be qui—

Interrupting Reid, Hotch firmly interjected, "We're here for a case, not a vacation. I expect everyone at the station in 20."

"Actually..." Reid said, his voice timid. Facts and statistics were his comfort zone and he could articulate them with a confident resolve, but it were the simple interactions that gave him anxiety.

Earning a glare from Hotch, Spencer quickly backtracked, raising his hands in an unintentional surrender, "Oh no, not like that. I wasn't trying to recite a fact there, I just have a request if that's okay."

"What is it?"

"I was uh, wondering if I could go see my mom? I'll be quick about it, she just hasn't really been responsive on the phone lately and I want to check on her in person since we're uh, here," Spencer put forth. "I'll only be gone a couple of hours."

"That's fine Reid, go ahead," Hotch responded, his critical work-time demeanor softening to accommodate the sensitive request. "You can take the afternoon off if you need to, we will set up and do preliminary victimology while you're gone. This unsub has a long cooling off period so speed is not absolutely critical as of right now."

"Thanks," Spencer said, disappearing from the scene before anyone had a chance to ask more questions or express worry.

"Should we be worried about the kid?" Morgan asked the team, considering offering to drive Reid to the clinic and slyly ask a couple of check in questions along the way. He knew his intentions would be obvious—Reid most certainly didn't need help driving in his own home city—but it might help soothe Derek's nerves.

"He can handle himself," JJ answered, nodding in Spencer's direction. "Let's go, the local cops are expecting us. We're not exactly setting up for a great partnership by being a good three hours late."

The team headed to the local police station in mutual silence, apart from a few odd gasps and "mamma mias" from Rossi at Morgan's driving. Emily was first out of the car upon their arrival, stepping out of the vehicle and almost knocking headfirst into an officer waiting right outside.

"Whoa, sorry," Emily retorted, jumping out his way in slight surprise.

"It's cool, don't worry. A lot of us are excited that you’re here, FBI and all," the officer offered without prompting, not-so-covertly checking out each of the team members. "I'm Lucas by the way. You can call me Lu. Or whatever you want, really. Anything's cool."

"Can you show us to our workspace, Lucas?" Hotch responded after waiting out his ramble. "You can start briefing us as we walk."

"Oh, yeah, yeah of course, good thinking," Lucas said, almost as if talking to himself. "Well, basically there was this dude, who killed this other dude, but before that they strangled all these women. Dude two is obviously dead but dude one is still out there which isn't really ideal for our purposes.”

Almost knocking straight into the glass pane adjacent to the sliding doors, Lucas continued, "Yeah, and also the dude that killed the other dude—he's a coding mega mind and hacked into all our services and deleted his entire file. Coffee is over by the lavender plant over there by the way. He's a real mega mind and as I'm sure you've realized talking to me we're kinda lacking in skill, so we really would appreciate whatever help you can give."

"Son, were you able to salvage any information about this _dude_ before he deleted his file?" Rossi inquired, placing an arm on Lucas' shoulder. The act was partly a gesture of comfort, partly as self preservation technique to stop the kid from stepping on his very expensive leather shoes with sneakers that looked ready for incineration. Rossi wasn’t quite tall enough to make the pose look natural against Lucas, and ended up just giving him a pat on the back instead.

"Oh, yes, let me show you!" Lucas replied, turning around and almost knocking into Emily again with his eagerness to get to the file room. "C'mon."

"Emily, you go," Hotch motioned, leading the rest of the team into their workspace at the back of the precinct. Exchanging a quick glance with JJ, she followed Lucas onto their quest for scraps into the file room.

"Hey, since you don't have much info left, any chance there's any officers who remember any details of the top of their heads?" Emily asked, keeping her voice tentative so as to not come off as condescending.

"What do you want to know?" Lucas shot back absently, distracted with shoving his entire arm into a cubby in an attempt to retrieve what must be the remaining files.

"Physical appearance, name, license plate, anything that can help us identify him."

"Well, I only saw the scumbag once, but he was blonde. Hair straight and about chin length, cut in three distinct but kinda sloppy layers. Blue eyes, and his ears shot out a bit like Dumbo. Could literally see them through his hair. He was missing his left eyebrow," Lucas narrated, simultaneously dragging out 3 crumpled papers from out of the cubby in triumph. "His license plate was 6TRJ244, California. There was a cat in the front seat, a Siberian I think. The guy also had a scar on his left forearm, probably from a serrated blade. Overall review sorta slimy but not entirely unattractive."

"Damn..." Emily said, looking at the dude who almost got his entire arm stuck in a drawer just seconds ago in confused wonder. Before she could stop herself, she let out, "Didn’t see that coming."

"I know I'm...a _a lot_ to keep up with, but I do have my moments," Lucas nodded, smiling with slight mischief.

"You haven't met him yet, but there's a person on our team who would really love this," Emily said, walking out of the room too quickly to catch Lucas' inquisitive expression.

Returning from their journey, the two dropped the salvaged scraps of dude #1's file on the coffee table, stepping aside so the others could survey their findings.

Morgan grabbed one of the papers with little enthusiasm, remarking, "Damn, with this little info, we aren't even going to need Reid to read it all."

"Reid?" Lucas inquired, tilting his head a degree to the left, shards of jet black hair falling into his dark eyes.

“Yeah, it’s the person I was referring to when we were leaving the file room,” Emily responded, leaning on the wall behind them. “Can read like a million words per minute, but he’s very life-like I promise.”

“Sounds like quite the character,” Lucas laughed, attempting to drink from a water bottle that clearly had nothing in it. “Anyways, as I was telling Emily, we do know the killer’s licens—

Before Lucas could finish the thought, Morgan’s phone let out a ring. He glanced at the screen, smirking, “Speak of the devil.”

“Everything alright there, lover boy?”

The team can’t quite make out what is said on the other side of the line, but Derek quickly proceeded, “Glad to hear that, Spencer. See you soon.”

Snapping his phone shut, Derek announced, “His mom is all good, just a bit paranoid over phone surveillance. He’s on his wa—

“Wait. Did you say Spencer Reid?” Lucas asked, looking as if several major gears had just turned in his brain. “The one that’s from here?”

“Yeah,” Morgan answered, a little surprised.

“Oh, dope,” Lucas said, shrugging. “Last time I talked to him he did say he was with the FBI, but I figured this had to be too big of a coincidence when Emily first said the last name.”

“You two know each other?” Morgan asked, steering the conversation away from the case but curious beyond himself. Reid didn’t spend a lot of time talking about his life in Las Vegas—they figured it was due to a lack of things to tell—but Derek was curious nonetheless. Not like they were going to get another opportunity to get some gossip out of what seemed to be an old friend any time soon. He needed fresh material to tease with.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas said, his voice light and attention already half distracted by the photos of the murders as if seeing them for the first time. Leaning over the coffee table to inspect them closer, he added offhandedly, “We dated for like three years at MIT.”

“You _dated_?” Derek asked, confused.

“ _You_ went to MIT?” Rossi added, raising his eyebrows.

“Have you guys noticed that all the victims are positioned at a 200° angle to the dumpster? It’s far too precise, this guy is probably OCD.”

Looking up after registering the sudden silence, Lucas shrugged, “oh, sorry, I got sidetracked. Yeah, we met when Spence was getting his jazilioneth Ph.D and I was finishing up my bachelors.”

“Dated?” Morgan asked again, not appearing particularly confused anymore but still looking for confirmation.

“We kinda went our separate ways but was fun while it lasted—he’s a wild one—though I’m still paying off those college loans, what? 6 years later? College is a pyramid scheme if you really think about it.”

Unsure which point to unpack first, Rossi was about to ask another follow up question when JJ interrupted, “Aaand this is probably why that nice HR lady told us not to talk about personal matters during work hours. Right, Derek, our flarpy blunderguff?”

“Oh wait, sorry, is he not…” Lucas murmured, eyes wide and suddenly appearing a lot more focused. “Ummmm…”

“OCD. The last relevant thing anyone here has said,'' Hotch stated, harsh and indicating that the tangent was over.

Lucas was silent, but Rossi quickly picked up the life line, “no idea about the exact angle measurement but the kid—no, Lucas—is onto something.” Rossi quickly corrected, remembering that they usually use “kid” to refer to Spencer. “it’s worth investigating.”

“I agree,” Hotch said, turning to Lucas. “Can you let your captain know we need him to organize a roadblock on each major freeway leading out of Las Vegas?”

“Yes, definitely, will do so right now,” Lucas rambled, disappearing out of the back door as quickly as he had appeared.

“Alright. Everyone be careful, the unsub’s partner has already been killed so that might result in him becoming careless and losing control," Hotch warned, turning at the sound of the doors swinging open.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m a bit late. Got here as quick as I could,” came a familiar voice, sounding from the front of the room.

“Reid...” JJ said, her voice cheerful but unable to prevent a layer of awkwardness from seeping through. “Nice to have you back.”

“Nice to hear that I’ve been missed,” Reid smiled, his attempt at humor falling flat on the air of discomfort plaguing the audience. “You guys alright? Did I miss something bad?”

“No. We are good,” Hotch stated, voice sharp amidst the silence. “Morgan, Rossi: M.E.’s office. Find out if any of the victims had defensive wounds. JJ, do your best with the media, we don’t want to feed this unsub’s ego with press coverage. Reid, Emily, take Lucas and go to the crime scene. Check out his theory about the OCD. You can brief Reid on the case during the drive.”

The team trickled out of the workspace and onto their assignments wordlessly, exchanging a couple of polite smiles and nods. Morgan gave Reid his usual playful slap on the back but avoided his eyes.

“What was that about?” Reid shrugged, raising his eyebrows a bit at Emily. “Did I get a new haircut and forget?”

“Can people with an eidetic memory even forget?”

“Fair point,” Reid answered, not appearing particularly satisfied but letting it go. “I need to run to the bathroom but I’ll join you outside in a sec.”

“Alright, I’ll turn up the AC in the car, it’s boiling out there,” Emily said, excusing herself outside. “See you in a minute.”

Making a trip to the bathroom as quick as possible, Reid is almost out of the precinct when he finds himself face to face with an officer who very narrowly just avoided knocking face first into the sliding doors.

“Lu! Is that you?” Reid called, surprised.

“Spence!” Lucas exclaimed, looking guilty. Suspicious, Spencer noted.

“How are you doing? Are you in charge of the case?”

Lucas bit his bottom lip, shifting on the balls of his feet, “Yeah, not sure what head trauma our captain sustained, but he’s been letting me take the lead a lot lately.”

“You know you deserve it. By the way, why’s everyone so awkward today? Did you show them a college photo of me?” Noticing his friend’s increasingly uncomfortable expression, Reid squinted his eyes with suspicion. “Wait hold up—

Spencer stepped back—raising an eyebrow at Lucas—and observed in the midst of a tentative laugh, “I see what happened here.”

“This one might have potentially been my fault,” Lucas defended, earning a small glare from Spencer. “Ok, ok it was definitely my fault.”

“Not your best, I’ll admit,” Spencer smiled, stepping forward and bridging the gap created during his initial realization. “But discreteness was never your forte.”

Fiddling a with silver ring on his left index finger, Lucas said, “Hey, I am honestly really sorry about that. Wasn’t my place. I just truly had no idea you weren’t out.”

“I am and I’m not.”

“Ominous.”

“I mean, I don’t really hide it? Like I have zero interest in being closeted,” Spencer sighed, pondering whether it was appropriate to go more in depth in their current setting, especially during work hours. “But sometimes I find myself wondering whether just referring to my romantic interests as ‘they’ is enough.”

“Hey, who am I to judge? I can barely get past this door,” Lucas joked, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. Tentatively reaching out, he rested a hand on Spencer’s arm, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” Spencer sighed, his eyes sparkling with the smile that Lucas’ lacked. “Would just really rather skip the awkward stage with my team.”

“You’re basically one big awkward stage yourself, doctor,” Lucas smirked. “But hey, it’ll be fine. Your boss was more surprised that I went to college.”

“You really are just the master of first impressions.”

“Impressed you just fine when we met.”

“Alright, let’s not talk about that,” Spencer giggles, averting his eyes. “You coming to the crime scene?”

“Can’t. Sheriff wants me to organize the roadblocks. I would come to make sure your team understood my theory but you’re there, so I’m not worried.”

“Alright,” Spencer answered, lagging behind a bit before letting himself out the doors. He wasn’t sure if he should offer to grab a drink and catch up after work, or whether he wanted to.

Settling into the passenger's seat, he threw his notepad into the cupholder before glancing up to confirm he’s ready to go. The drive to the crime scene was around ten minutes, most of which Spencer and Emily occupied with regional small talk and complaints about how hot it is.

Upon arrival at the crime scene Emily stayed still, not making a move to get out of the vehicle. Turning her head to catch his gaze, she let out, “Hey, Spencer, I meant to ignore it but that’s starting to feel wrong. It’s a long story but the team accidentally found out you’re bisexual.”

“I know,” Spencer said. “I ran into Lu on my way out.”

“Oh,” she responded, eyebrows relaxing in relief. “Sorry, I just figured you should know. None of us are mad by the way. You weren’t exactly hiding it.”

“Guess we have that in common,” Reid chuckled, lighthearted but obvious in his suggestion.

“Touché, Dr. Reid, touché,” she chuckled back, not even attempting to refute. “Morgan is gonna be petrified that he missed not one but two of us.”

“Questionable work for a man who makes a living off profiling.”

They both laughed, relaxing back into their chairs. Planned or not, this felt quite peaceful.

“Seriously though,” Emily said, turning toward the passenger seat. “Morgan has zero issues with your sexuality. He’s gonna make it weird by trying too hard to not make it weird, but he’ll figure things out eventually. He really respects you.”

“Thank you,” Reid nodded, taking in the compliment.

“I hope no one on the team made you feel like you had to be ashamed of who you were, Spencer,” Emily consoled, concern leaking through the calm of her tone.

“I’m ashamed about everything romantic, Emily,” He smiled, letting out a small laugh. “It’s not really who I’m attracted to so much as just the fact that I am attracted to someone at all. I acted the same way about what happened with Lila.”

“Lila?”

“Nope, nope, not today,” Spencer laughs in earnest, weaseling out of the car before she could pry further.

The crime scene turned out more complex that they were prepared for, and in between traffic, uncooperative deputies, and having been three hours late into Vegas from the start Emily and Reid didn’t get back to the precinct until nightfall.

The team was standing around a wilting lavender plant in their workspace, getting ready to leave for the night. A young officer standing off to the side appeared flustered, making Spencer assume they had walked in just after a Derek-Garcia phone call on speaker.

“You guys work fast,” Morgan teased.

“Did you confirm the OCD theory?” Hotch cut in, straight to the point even outside of work hours.

“Yes, looks like Lu was right,” Spencer answered, consciously using his ex-boyfriend’s nickname. Being in a room full of profilers, he knew they would pick this up as a sign that he was comfortable talking about it.

“We also got the coordinates of another potential victim, will check it out tomorrow,” Emily added.

“Alright, everyone may go,” Hotch stated, dismissing the team. “7 am tomorrow, sharp.”

“Serial killers don’t sleep and neither do we,” Rossi sighed, putting on his coat.

Just as everyone was about to head out, Spencer cut in, “Actually—

“Is that your favorite word, kid?” Morgan playfully joked.

“It’s the only one you’ll know the meaning of,” Spencer returned fire, feeling like being a little spicy tonight.

“Alright, alright,” Morgan surrendered, taken aback but proud of his teammate’s sudden wit.

“While everyone is here,” Spencer continued, addressing the whole team. Rossi, Morgan, Hitch, and JJ looked at him with interest, possessing a good guess as to where this was heading but understanding the need to be respectful. “I just figured I should address everyone’s new acquaintance with a certain someone from my life.”

His tone was starting to settle into its usual timid comfort zone, and Reid didn’t fight it or attempt to sound forceful. He went on, “we dated back in college,” he said, trailing off for a second. “And potentially a bit after the academy…but anyhow, not the point. Just wanted to, uh, make sure to communicate clearly.”

“I have one question and one question only,” Rossi came to life, trying to drag on his fur gloves. Why he was doing so in the Vegas heat, no one could be sure. “Where does that kid store his batteries and how do I take them out?”

Patting himself on the back for getting a heartfelt laugh out of Reid, Rossi was about to slip out but JJ responded before he was over the threshold.

“Lucas seems lovely, Spencer,” she assured, giving Rossi a friendly but vengeful side eye.

“We used to joke that ‘he’s a little bit of a lot,’” Spencer smiled. “On that note, has anyone seen him? I wanted to catch up before leaving.”

Earning a whistle from Derek and a wink from Emily, Spencer blushed. Happiness and embarrassment were competing for dominance within his brain, and it was difficult to place which he was more afraid of.

The team shrugged—acknowledging they weren’t sure where Lucas was—and slowly trickled out of the precinct. Hotch was the last one to leave except for Spencer, slowing down his steps before exiting and turning around purposefully, “He’s just outside the backdoors, I saw him calling someone there minutes ago.”

With that Hotch was gone, leaving Spencer alone in the dark with nothing but one thing on his mind.

* * *

Expecting to be met with the crisp air of a desert night, Spencer found himself smacked face first into the glass adjacent to the actual doors. Issuing an expletive of questionable appropriateness, he repositioned himself and stepped out into the moonlight.

“Smooth,” a dark figure off to his right commented, rising from the bench he had been sitting criss crossed on.

“Not my best,” Spencer said, unsure of how to redeem himself out of that one. “Lu, I wanted to talk to you.”

“So little people do,” Lucas answered, half his face warmed by the soft light of a nearby streetlamp.

“I didn’t ask you this earlier at the precinct, but I should’ve. Are you okay? I can’t imagine learning that my friends had never heard of you made you feel very appreciated.”

“I get it,” Lucas said, stripped of the layer of cheer that seemed to follow him around wherever he went during the day. He didn't appear angry or upset, just worn down by a dimension of experiences Spencer would probably never come to know of. “You were never one to talk about yourself.” Looking away, he thought for a moment before continuing, “and if we’re being honest, neither was I.”

“Just wanted to make sure you knew, you…you do matter to me. No matter how much our paths diverge.”

“Same here,” Lucas stated, lifting his deep, soot colored eyes to Spencer’s hazel. They maintained the connection for a little too long, each too exhausted to break the glance.

Holding his gaze, Spencer added, “I’m sorry if I made things weird between you and the rest of the officers.”

“It’s funny cause they actually knew about you. I leave you alone for a second and you’ve still somehow managed to make things awkward. You have a talent, sir.”

“Well, you can, you know, supervise me then,” Spencer’s smile is innocent, much unlike his voice. “Make sure I don’t make any more mistakes.” Turning around, he headed to his car.

Letting out an incredulous laugh, Lucas followed, a slight skip returning to his step.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Eternal gratitude to everyone who takes the time to read my works, I shall find each and every one of you and shower you with endless love and appreciation.


End file.
